Johnny Herbert. Finished 4th on his debut with feet he could barely feel the pedals with. He shouldn't have even been racing.

I'm a bit ashamed I had forgotten this. He walked past me a few months later, and his legs looked as though they were going to snap backwards! I don't know whether he was sidelined with good cause by Benetton, because he himself had no qualms about jumping into seats that came up for just a race or two. I believe he drove for Tyrrell by the time of the Belgian Grand Prix.

Good call, Laura!

_________________Use every man after his desert, and who should scape whipping? Use them after your own honour and dignity.

Johnny Herbert. Finished 4th on his debut with feet he could barely feel the pedals with. He shouldn't have even been racing.

I'm a bit ashamed I had forgotten this. He walked past me a few months later, and his legs looked as though they were going to snap backwards! I don't know whether he was sidelined with good cause by Benetton, because he himself had no qualms about jumping into seats that came up for just a race or two. I believe he drove for Tyrrell by the time of the Belgian Grand Prix.

Good call, Laura!

Thanks Fiki.

It was too much too soon for Herbert I think, he gave his all on his debut and it paid off handsomely but you have to wonder at what cost for the rest of the year. He failed to even qualify for Canada. He only driver two GP for Tyrrell, Spa and Portugal (which he DNQd). I wonder if the effort he put in for that first race in Brazil just took too much out of him and his feet. He didn't return to F1 until a year later, replacing Martin Donnelly after his own horrific shunt in Jerez. By then Herbert's feet had had enough time to settle down and so his long F1 career could begin!

If he had never broken his feet and he had signed that Williams deal for 1989 I do wonder what he could have done, he was a good driver after his accident, he could have been great without it.

FatAlbert and Laura: thanks for reminding us of:Baghetti's debut which was unique.Herbert's debut to even finish the race was amazing; he became a very competent driver for years after his accident. He did very well at Lotus against Hakkinen in 1992; Schumacher waged war on Johhny at Benetton, but even during his last seasons in the 2000s he was good.

Even in championship races lower formulae were sometimes allowed, just to make up a more or less respectable starting field. Jackie Ickx entered his first Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in a F2 car. He had to start behind all the F1 cars, but within a couple of laps, he had passed half of them.

I just remember having high expectations of Jean Alesi, when he got an early chance in F1. And I wasn't disappointed at all! If only the rest of his career had been like his debut.

_________________Use every man after his desert, and who should scape whipping? Use them after your own honour and dignity.

I think this thread rules out any great who made his debut on a backmarker car.

Webber was mentioned, his debut was great for that car

Yep, but circumstances helped him and as Silverstoneregular said, we should focus on race pace and not results that could be result of fortune, on 2002 only a few cars ended the race so it was a matter of survival. Great performance by Webber anyway. But to honour the truth we should study each great driver first race and compare.

I think this thread rules out any great who made his debut on a backmarker car.

Webber was mentioned, his debut was great for that car

Yep, but circumstances helped him and as Silverstoneregular said, we should focus on race pace and not results that could be result of fortune, on 2002 only a few cars ended the race so it was a matter of survival. Great performance by Webber anyway. But to honour the truth we should study each great driver first race and compare.

He did manage to beat a much-faster Salo whilst driving with a broken differential. It was by no means an easy walk to the flag.

I think this thread rules out any great who made his debut on a backmarker car.

Webber was mentioned, his debut was great for that car

Yep, but circumstances helped him and as Silverstoneregular said, we should focus on race pace and not results that could be result of fortune, on 2002 only a few cars ended the race so it was a matter of survival. Great performance by Webber anyway. But to honour the truth we should study each great driver first race and compare.

Of course. Minardi finished 5th and 7th, only beating the new Toyota team and the horrible Jaguar. Only 8 drivers finished, so it would be hard not to score some points.

Never the less, Weber's driving was good and his race pace for that car was not bad at all. He was almost a whole lap ahead of his team-mate, as a rookie (ok, Yoong was not the best driver and only had 3 more races). Under the circumstances it was a great feat

If I understand the comment correctly, that this thread rules out any great who made his debut in a backmarker car, the following?Lauda for March 1971Mansell for Lotus 1980Moss for HWM in 1951Alonso for Minardi 2001Raikkonen for Suaber 2001

Nobody has yet mentioned Ricardo Rodriguez (younger brother of the better known Pedro). Ricardo's F1 debut, as a guest driver for Ferrari at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix was pretty sensational. Despite it being his first drive in an F1 car, Ricardo put the Ferrari on the front row, only a tenth behind pole man and team-mate Wolfgang von Trips and well ahead of Richie Ginther and Phil Hill in the other two works Ferraris. At 19 years and 208 days he was (and still is) the youngest driver to start on the front row of a World Championship Grand Prix. In the race he diced for the lead with Ginther and Hill until a failed fuel pump ended his run.

The year before his F1 debut at Monza, he and Andre Pilette finished second in the Le Mans 24 Hour Race, making Ricardo (18 years and 133 days) the youngest podium finisher in Le Mans history.

One that slipped under the radar a bit for me was Esteban Tuero. His lack of pedigree in lower formulae led no less a commentator than Martin Brundle to make the following statement:

"As for Tuero, it would have been scary. I don't like to see these guys out there with so little experience. Imagine it: even if he didn't qualify, he'd be getting in the way during qualifying. And if he did qualify, then he'd definitely be being lapped plenty. He'd have really needed to have his wits about him. To be honest, it annoys me, people like that, with zilch credibility."

Tuero then made him eat his words by out-qualifying his team mate plus a number of drivers in clearly superior machinery.

An engine problem put him out, but his race pace was less than a second off Schumacher's!

One that slipped under the radar a bit for me was Esteban Tuero. His lack of pedigree in lower formulae led no less a commentator than Martin Brundle to make the following statement:

"As for Tuero, it would have been scary. I don't like to see these guys out there with so little experience. Imagine it: even if he didn't qualify, he'd be getting in the way during qualifying. And if he did qualify, then he'd definitely be being lapped plenty. He'd have really needed to have his wits about him. To be honest, it annoys me, people like that, with zilch credibility."

Tuero then made him eat his words by out-qualifying his team mate plus a number of drivers in clearly superior machinery.

An engine problem put him out, but his race pace was less than a second off Schumacher's!

Schumacher only did 5 laps and one of those was half done with an already failing engine. Tuero managed 22 and a lot of his fuel would have burned off by then. Skews it a bit.